Lerøy closes its 2022 annual report following a year that has been exacerbated by macro conditions. However, despite this, the Group profits in 2022 were higher than in 2021, as well as, increased revenues by 15%, to a record NOK 26.6 billion (EUR 2,25 billion) (USD 2,50 billion). Although the rate of salmon and trout fell by 6%, to 175,000 tons, in 2022.
Henning Beltestad, the CEO of Lerøy, explained with this perspective how the company had faced this year. "It's been an incredibly difficult situation to handle, but we're a dynamic company, and our employees have hung in there and done everything they could under extremely challenging conditions."
Thus, even with the good results, the company wants to reach even more. The Group's statement of financial position amounted to NOK 37,062 million (EUR 3,13 million) (USD 3,46 million) at the end of 2022, compared with NOK 34,194 million (EUR 2,88 million) (USD 3,20 million) the previous year.
The consumer, the employee, and the environment are some of their key issues.
This year, the environment has played an important role in the company's efforts to reduce its footprint. In addition, and related to this, importance has also been given to efficiency.
Efficiency is another of the major concepts that the company has highlighted to keep pushing forward. Among its objectives is to create an innovative organization and a learning environment for consumers and the company's employees, as well as to improve its operational effectiveness.
With numbers, they have highlighted increasing its profitability to NOK 500 million (EUR 42,19 million) (USD 46,73 million) by 2025, to ensure the development of its value chain.
The largest investment made by Lerøy in 2022 was to complete the post-smolt facility at Lerøy Midt. Thus in 2022, the Group paid dividends of NOK 1,560 million (EUR 131,97 million) (USD 145,81 million) of which NOK 1,489 million (EUR 125,97 million) (USD 139,22 million) was from the parent company to the shareholders in Lerøy. Now there are no further plans. As Beltestad said "It's frightening how the politicians are treating an industry that is so important to Norway."
Following the Norwegian government's announcement on aquaculture fees all medium and large companies are waiting to see before moving forward. Lerøy is another such company.
As they explained in their annual report it will have an impact on them. "This tax will probably be put into law before the summer of 2023, and will affect the Group's ability to make investments and pay dividends."
Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG) is a global seafood corporation and has its head office in Bergen. The Group's almost 6,000 employees process between 350,000 and 400,000 tonnes of seafood every year, corresponding to around 5 million meals every day. The Group has a vertically integrated value chain for redfish and whitefish.
